Author Archives: kkovarik

Sorry for not posting much lately. Both Pete and I have been sick with something or other. We’ve managed to muddle through work, coming home, sleeping until supper, eating, then resting some more. Pete planted trees on Saturday while I did not: he then spent most of Sunday under the covers with Seamus snuggled up close. Whatever we had made us both cough. It was a bit like yawning; Pete would cough, which somehow made me cough. We both feel like we’ve turned the corner to better health.

So this past Saturday, we planted the last of the trees for the season, about 100 more trees. (I use the term “we” very loosely, as I stayed home in bed.) Every street I walk or drive down in the Arboretum shows evidence of LOUA’s efforts, efforts that couldn’t happen without all of our volunteers – those that plant the trees, those that clean up after we’ve planted the trees, and those that allowed the trees to be planted, and those that care for the trees after they’ve gone into the ground. Honestly, we couldn’t do this alone, so thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

We also have the second sign for the kiosk. We originally had just one made, but we decided that we needed a sign on each side. Hopefully, that will be up soon, weather permitting. Thanks to Gerry Campbell for creating the sign for us.

Finally, Mike McLaughlin got an email from someone who is currently studying in the Botanic Gardens in Dublin Ireland.  He’s writing a paper on urban arboretums and found our site (He say it is great!). He is going to set up a urban arboretum in his village in Dublin where there are great trees some 300 years old. He just wanted some help in getting his own urban arboretum up and growing. I volunteered to travel to Ireland to give more advice personally! (Being half Irish, I’m eminently qualified!)

Who would have ever imagined?

Until next time!

Well, we’ve got another weekend of tree planting under our belts. This one was a little bit more challenging than usual. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you the process that is involved in getting trees planted, but here goes:

1. First, we have to figure out which addresses will be getting trees.
2. Then a letter is sent out to the homeowners, letting them know they will be getting a tree.
3. Once we know that we can plant the tree, it has to be delivered.
4. After that, everything that needs to go into getting the tree planted has to happen, which means mixing soil with fertilizer, collecting tarps for the soil, and empty buckets for waste soil to be dumped into.
5. Waste soil has to be collected and dumped once all the trees are planted.

Basically, if we don’t have the buckets to mix the soil in for the trees, we can’t plant. So a HUGE thank you to Annette at Oakland Nursery, who came to our rescue when the pots we had collected to mix soil in were taken. We would have been in trouble if Oakland hadn’t offered their pots for us to use.

Another huge thank you goes to Laura and the amazing, wonderful OSU students she collects for us each planting weekend. These students we had, along with our community helpers, made planting the trees a snap. We can’t thank all of our volunteers enough as these trees won’t plant themselves!

And thank you, Sam, for once again lending us your trusty truck to deliver trees, pick up dirt, and generally make anything we need happen. You are a great help to LOUA!

In talking to Laura, she thought that in three years, we have planted nearly 600 trees. I’ve really noticed this past week, in walking down the streets, the fruits of all of our labors. Beautiful trees that are starting to take off and make a difference. And every weekend we plant trees, my favorite part is hearing all of the thanks we get from the homeowners. With so many trees in the ground, your love and care for each of them makes all the difference in LOUA’s trees surviving and thriving.

That being said, we’ve got one more weekend to finish it all off. So I hope to see you this Saturday,10/18/13, 9am, at the LOUA kiosk.

Here’s some photos from yesterday…my favorite is this first one; just what we LOVE to see after we’ve planted a tree: the homeowner giving it water!

We have one more planting this year (at least I think it’s only one more planting!) and we are done! I’ll post pictures from Saturday’s tree fest – once I get Pete to upload the photos from his phone. I was so busy planting that I forgot to take any photos! We had an amazing crew from Ohio State helping us out. Those students rock!

LOUA Tree Planting
Saturday, October 12, 2013
9am
Meet at the LOUA kiosk

LOUA has a new program aimed to get even more trees into the Arboretum. It’s the Arboretum Certified Home program, and ThisWeek Booster has a great story about our new program. The information about becoming an Arboretum Certified Home is below and can also be accessed by clicking here. It has all the information that you will need to send in your application and become an Arboretum Certified Home! If you have any problems opening the attached pdf, let me know.

Criteria

• Property must be located within LOUA’s boundaries
• Property must meet the primary criteria located on back and have an additional tree for each 1,000 sq. ft. of yard.
• Corner lot side yard must meet curb lawn criteria

Rewards

• Small yard sign from LOUA with certification wording (see illustration above)
• Acknowledgement on LOUA website
• A tree marker for your native trees
• One year complimentary membership in LOUA

Cost

Nominal application fee will cover LOUA’s cost for your yard sign and tree marker(s).

Process

1. Homeowner mails/e-mails application to LOUA address on flier linked above
2. LOUA visits your home to evaluate your property
3. If your application is approved, LOUA collects the fee and submits an order for your yard sign and tree marker(s)
4. If your application is not approved, LOUA will provide details about how to meet the criteria

Exception

LOUA Board has the right to approve an application that does not meet the criteria because of special circumstances that prevent the homeowner from planting a tree. Barriers include but are not limited to: utility lines, drain pipes, sidewalks, fire hydrants, city signs, and storm sewers.

Disqualifier

Non-native invasive on property.

Well, the second annual Clintonville Pawpaw Festival is under our belts. The rain that started the day put a damper on the festival for some of the vendors. But boy, once the sun came out, so did the people!

We had some beautiful, toe-tapping  music by Baja Clintonville Broadcasters (and sorry for lack of photo – it was raining, and I was fearful of my iPhone…)

Rambling House, who made a fantastic pawpaw soda…

and Tony Russell of the Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association, who brought pawpaw pulp, were sold out nearly two hours before our festival ended.

John Lloyd (johnlloyd@wideopenwest.com) brought some lovely wood pieces (we bought two!)…

and Pat Belisle showed his amazing sculptures (we bought one!).

Mike Siculan brought his strange and wonderful puppets and was a big hit with all the kids.

Of course, Scioto Gardens was there with all of their beautiful native plants (we bought some – of course!)

All of the vendors were very pleased with the way the day went. And so were we – several new members and donations came our way!

We are so excited to begin planning for next year’s festival!

Until next time!

Just got back from Michigan – will post about that trip soon (trees everywhere!), but until then, hope you can make it to the LOUA APPs Festival. It promises to be even better than last year’s!

The Second Annual
LOUA APPs Festival
featuring
Local Art, Native Plants, and Pawpaws

Hosted by the

• Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum
• Scioto Gardens
• Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association

There will be food, live music, and lots of fun!

Saturday, September 21, 2013
10:00am to 4:00pm

Directly across the street from Indianola Informal K-8 School
251 East Weber Road
Columbus, Ohio 43202